I love it when a plan comes together......

Today I had my first proper drive in an S3........ and ive owned the car months.

I bought the car off another member.... who since hasnt been back on here funny enough..... and all seemed fine.
No running issues, no abnormal smoke, impressive service record etc.

Then, 3 weeks into ownership all hell broke loose. Car felt sluggish. Was using coolant at the rate i was refilling it weekly.
Sniff test said head gasket was fine but a leak was discovered on one of the turbo coolant pipes. Replaced pipe.

Then the PCV system had a fit. So i just gave in and binned it for a catch-can.... which highlighted other vacuum leaks which i sorted.

Then i developed misfires. Coils were swapped about and the misfire stayed on cylinder 1. so i changed the spark plugs. made no difference.
Checked the wires - fecked. So i soldered in a new loom.
Car ran reasonably ok but still had misfires in high boost.

Compression test showed a leak. Coolant started goingt down, white smoke from exhaust - didnt take much brain power to figure head gasket had called it a day.

So left it a few weeks (dangerous but had no choice) and changed head gasket and every other gasket on the head and thermostat.

Also had to clean off thick rings of k-seal.... which means it had gone before and had a quick fix.

Put it all together - ran like a bag of spanners!!!
checked timing - all good. Drove it for an hour and it started running really well and smoothed out..... except i now had a screaching dying cat sound when boost kicked in.

So left it there for a week and just spent an hour tighening exhaust/turbo manifold bolts, all jubilee clips, double checked vacuum lines and went for a drive.......

F*ck me it flys!!!!! It feels lightening quick and responsive (loaded revo stg 1 back on) and im chuffed.
Feels much quicker than when i first bought it - can actually feel it pushing me into my seat now!

Time to start putting money aside for some mods now!

To anyone else having issues with their car and are getting disheartened - stick at it. It will all work out haha!

Sorry for massive post - just wanted to put across the pain ive had with this car

I had similar problems myself when I bought mine, it had a HUGE service record with no expense spared.
Recon the problem was ME. I kept pushing it on every time I drive it and it highlighted anything that wasn't 100%.

That my friend is so similar to my story but mine involved new brakes all round too, sump ,oil pick up , oil sump sensor,and an abundance of vacuum / boost leaks. Mine cost me a fortune at garages but at the end it was just about worth it. Sold it then 4 weeks later the new owner phoned me and said he has blown a 4 inch hole in the side of the engine!!! .????? I was so annoyed I offered to buy it back off him, I was certain this was almost impossible. He declined my offer!

Mental really - if your not careful cars like this can turn into a money pit.

But just goes to show, a good service record can still hide lots of issues. Mine actually came with a ring binder full of receipts/invoices.
At first i thought that was good.... all the owners keeping a record of the work they have had done over last 11 years etc.

Maybe I should have seen it as a warning that this car will break haha!

Im lucky though, its cost me about £500 to set this car right. (I did forget to mention that I had to buy a battery 3 days after getting home. It died while i was washing the car listening to music )

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